"And you will have joy in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and to our family….'' Deuteronomy 26:11
March 11, 2024 - Daddy built our kitchen table from scrap lumber. Measuring about eight feet long and three feet wide it was barely big enough for our large family. After building two long benches and placing a nail keg at each end, it became the place (and the only place) for our meals. Mother baked biscuits every morning in our Coal Oil stove and biscuits and syrup was our standard breakfast for many years. When we ran out of cane syrup, Mother made sugar syrup with a boiling mixture of sugar and water. Poured over a buttered biscuit, it was as good as it got.
Everybody got to talk…and listen… (around a table… not a counter.) Although we weren't allowed to talk with food in our mouth or eat the last biscuit… we talked plenty and ate plenty when we weren't talking. The benefits of those meals together went far beyond catching up on the day, but was a building block for our family ties. It was especially the evening meals with Daddy that bequeathed to me some of my childhood's fondest memories. There were eventually five boys and five girls in the Fincher family and before we left the table every night, Daddy assigned to us our next day's chores.
But things have changed a lot since I was a boy. Fewer and fewer take time to eat dinner as a family. Many end up leaning on the fridge, sitting on counters, or wandering aimlessly around the house trying to eat and text at the same time. Some kids stick something in the microwave and head to their rooms to watch TV. They have no company, no questions -- just Wheel of Fortune and bad grades to show for it. Since schedules and routines are so important, children need things to be in order and know ahead of time what's going to happen. It's necessary to make them feel loved and secure in a crazy world.
I'll always remember our kitchen table and the good times around it. It was a simple place where I learned responsibility and felt love and security… and I was touched by the miracle of it. A lot of water has run under the bridge since we used to sit and tell our stories around it….
but I still remember it well…..
